Bikers are always much more vulnerable road users; not just because a bike offers little or no protection in a collision, but because drivers do not properly look out for bikers and accidents are unfortunately common.
So what happens if you are correctly cycling past a junction or a side road and a driver fails to notice you and pulls out in to you or in to your path, causing a collision?
You have a good chance at making a successful road accident claim for compensation. Liability in this kind of scenario isn’t too hard to establish. If you are already proceeding on the major road and a vehicle comes out of a junction or side road, they must give you precedence and it’s your right of way. They are clearly at fault.
If they pull out and you don’t have enough time to stop, they’re still liable.
Even if you swerve and take evasive action but end up injured, you can still claim. The injury is ultimately as a result of the other driver negligently emerging on to your road when they shouldn’t have done.
Can you be blamed in anyway?
In this kind of scenario, normally, the answer would be no. But there are factors that may need to be taken in to account when assessing the claim.
If you were not wearing high visibility clothing and / or the bike didn’t have lights of reflectors, there could be an argument to say you are partially responsible if it happened at night and you were hard to spot. This isn’t necessarily a defence per se, but insurers may use it in efforts to reduce the amount of money they owe to you in compensation.
If you were found partially at fault, liability can be split by a percentage. An example would be you being 10% at fault and the driver being 90% at fault. If this happens you would only receive 90% of your total claim for compensation.
The more popular arguments when it comes to contributory negligence, the term often applied if you are partially negligent, is that of helmets. If you weren’t wearing one and you injure your head, expect a reduction on your payout.
Get the best lawyer!
To avoid the worry of the insurers trying to avoid or lower a payout, make sure you instruct a quality specialist personal injury lawyer like us. We’ll always fight for the highest payout and fight for your right to receive 100% of the claim from the other side.
